/\\\ Veil of Thorns ///\

I have to say I'm aglow from reading this one. One sends out ones creations to be reviewed and what comes back is usually expected. Sometimes what is written is surprising, sometimes completely off the wall, to the point that you want to check and make sure you sent the right CD. But when it's understood, whether the review is positive or not, that's one of the greatest rewards.

The review is this way.

Side-Line Reviews Veil of Thorns, Jive Reviews SubQtaneous, ReGen Mag Podcast Featuring SubQ

This album is one of the first releases from independent upstart Mythos Media, also run by some of the main players on the album. According to their website, the subQtaneous project is "a creative outlet for musicians from a variety of popular and underground acts from across the country... this project was honed and sculpted for three long years in various home and professional studios." Well then. Let's dig in, shall we?

"Double Bind" starts us off with an immediate hyper-aware space that has synthetic blips, organic guitar/bass, and warped gothic choirs. P. Emerson Williams (one of the main vocalists for the disc) delivers emotional, cryptic lyrics over slow-heavy guitar-industrial that builds until it is difficult to distinguish yourself from all the layers around you. "Reality" is a subversive hip-hop collage of subtle orchestral melodies and deep sonic architecture, with rapper Insanity laying down some rhymes that haven't been swayed by the self-serving world of hip-hop automatism.

Clips of this album have been heard in the past year on podcasts by agent139, and an impressive staple of those is "Wake Up". These sole lyrics urge you to do just that. In this hellish era, further explanation beyond that phrase would be trite, and subQtaneous fills the rest of the track with tremoring musical protraction. "All You Know" gives us a dark sleazy jazz beat with upright bass, some cleverly humorous words spit by Rob Banks, and a gritty driving chorus. Not to be missed are the spoken word pieces ("Leviathan", "Some Still Despair", "The Woods Turn To Concrete"), giving us a little depth to the subQtaneous philosophy about the state of humanity.

For some reason, the instrumental track "Equinox" really stands out to me, in terms of the unusual gothic monk chanting, freeform clarinet, and garden sprinkler sounds. It is like a ritual evocation of the spirit of Suburban America, stripped of the cosmetic shell so that you can really feel the stygian undercurrents. Maynard loyalists should hear this album's complex long-lasting tracks, "Daily Grind", "Transit Of Venus", "Out Of Control" and "Solstice" being the stand-outs. The disc ends with an ol' skool industrial breakdown "The Resurrection", feeding our insatiable lust for mechanical rhythms and shifting obscure sounds.

All of the music on this disc feels very human and percussive, with a number of melodies/chords you wouldn't normally hear in industrial, metal, or any other urban music category. It manages to play a little into avant-garde, jazz, and electronica realms while maintaining a solid cohesiveness. It also captures experimental and political elements unheard on such a magnitude since the alternative heydey of the 80's and early 90's. Sometimes a huge artist roster will dillute the end result, but all of the collaboration on Some Still Despair In A Prozac Nation mixes into a tasty and potent brew. The production is original, flawless, and extremely layered, giving you plenty of repeat listens to pick up everything going on. This album is a notable addition to all the ground-breaking 21st century media that is emerging. If you are a proud member of a subculture, prefer subversive philosophical topics, and/or enjoy having your mind screwed with, this one is a worthwhile purchase. Get it!

Veil Of Thorns - Cognitive Dissonance (cd Mythos Media)

I'm well aware that I don't need to tell my old friends in Boston about this, but for the rest of the world I shall point you to WMBR and one of New England's most important and venerable Goth institutions. I'll go and grab the info from the myspace page:

WMBR's Bats in the Belfry radio show -- with your hostrix Laura -- airs each Monday evening from 8:00-10:00 pm (20:00-22:00) eastern U.S. time (GMT -5). Those of you in the Boston/Cambridge (Massachusetts/USA) area can tune in at 88.1FM; everyone else can listen online.

New! -- now you can listen to the two most recent Bats shows anytime on WMBR's show archives (scroll down to "Bats in the Belfry" at the 8-10pm slot).

Description of the show from the WMBR program guide: "Moody, dark, atmospheric, brooding; Mistress Laura's own special blend of gothic and ethereal music from all over the world, USA, and Boston. Beginning with ancient music and chant, to the newest gothic rock, darkwave, and dark ambient."

If you want to hear the best of the latest releases, classic goth, darkwave, ambient and postpunk that never falls into the rampant habit of playing "the usual songs by the usual artists", Mistress Laura will delight and surprise you every time. Those of you who remember what the Boston scene, such as it was, was like before the show began broadcasting fifteen years ago know what an invaluable service Laura has done for us with the show and the many live events she has put together.

Case in point: here's the latest show from last night. You even get a bit of Veil of thorns:

Be sure to tune in live, support the station and call Mistress Laura with your praise and requests.

This story was found on a site deep in the swamps on a morning following simultaneous sightings of strange lights in the sky, the Mothman, will o' the wisp, demonic faces in the sky and swarms of black helicopters with reptilian pilots that landed and birthed hordes of grey men in black who were seen carrying the inhabitants off:

Veil of Thorns… Veil of Thorns…I remember when Veil of Thorns came to my city – the Great, the old, the terrible city of unnumbered crimes. I had heard of them, and of the impelling fascination and allurement of their revelations. I burned with eagerness to explore their innermost secrets.

I had sought out all their known recordings: the tapes, highly guarded, widely hunted, every compilation and the albums whose very names hinted at what experience was to unfold upon their listening. I had been ravished into transports of ecstasy by these dissonances of exquisite morbidity and cacodaemonical ghastliness. Yet my craving was unassuaged! The "Lust Beyond Flesh" 7" single, a treasure dearly bought from a shady character with glowing red eyes at midnight on a full moon remains one possession I rarely talk about, lest unsavoury character creep from the shadows to take possession of this dark audio sigil for the power it grants.

Ta great expense of time, money and favours best left undefined I kept on top of news and speculation about the Veil of Thorns enigma. In moments of clarity I would wish to free myself from the influence of these dark expressions, but I would always come back to my collections of prised artefacts, the strange words that were like transmissions from a dystopian alternate universe that intersects our own at points of mystery. One piece of news would seal me to the Veil of Thorns current forever. It was rumoured that they were about to bring forth a new full length CD, and I trembled with insane lust at the very thought of the possibility.

From my arcane and unwholesome researches I had determined that Veil of Thorns was the work of mainly one man, if a mortal man he truly was, yet he had recourse to mechanical slaves, strange instruments of metal and electricity known as Pandora and Ruddy Bitch, which had the power to the muffled and maddening beating if drums and thin whine of blasphemous flutes inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time. This man, who was known by the deceptively human name of P. Emerson Williams and whose very existence in this universe has ever been in dispute. Tales proliferate around this individual, speculation that taxes the imagination, flowering rumours of his dwelling outside space and time. Every person known to be connected with this demon in human form has been beset by madness and disaster. Those who dare speak may point to the few who survive his acquaintance who to all appearances retain the manner of sanity and ascend to massive power. The less said about the appetites of these few individuals the better.

It was even whispered furtively in some circles that Williams had dared to perpetuate certain rituals under the name of Choronzon in which the waking world and the Abyss were poured into one another. I knew that indulging this fascination was an ill-advised pursuit, but I had severed too many connections to my former life through my pursuit of arcane knowledge and numinous but diabolical experiences to turn back.

It was with a growing anxiety that I entered the dark subterranean halls where freaks and, it seemed, mad demons would gather for the most unsavoury performances. I was determined to find someone, anyone who could give me information that could confirm these latest reports and perhaps I could work my way into the unholy inner circle who are privileged to attend the mythic conjurations that Veil of Thorns perform. My inquiries caused even the most depraved and unapproachable of these denizens of distant and dark corners of society and morality to shrink from me. As I passed one particular group that was assembled furtively in the darkest corner of the most infamous and exclusive of these nocturnal gathering spots, I overheard snatches of conversations about arcane subjects which, though obviously fuelled in large part by fantasy and bravado, showed some knowledge of hidden things. I decided to approach the most forbidding and vocal of the group.

The manner of this imposing black clad character was at first bemused and slightly mocking as I began to lay out my case. He’d answer my initial questions about mystical rites and occult matters in a deep and gravely voice that may have issued forth from the very mouth of hell. Through a quick succession of questions it was clear that this young man was practiced in the arts of necromancy, the conjuring of all manner of Demons and other unclean spirits and the amused glances he shot the group between answers made it clear that these were subjects with which he felt at home. The change in the manner of all in the group when I moved to my main topic was most jarring in its contrast to the knowing and mocking aspect it had had thus far.

The young man with the deep voice seemed to actually shrink in size at the first mention of Veil of Thorns and the assembled dwellers on twilights door stepped back several feet and they huddled together as though they were threatened by something more terrible than the most foul of those creatures of Hell they had told of conjuring and commanding with such swaggering braggadocio. The young man began stammering prevaricating obsequies and diversionary asides to inconsequential works of popular nonentities in a voice that gradually increased in volume as it rose to a shrill falsetto that eventually trailed off into a gibbering whimper. His compatriots grabbed the boy as he continued to grow ever more hysterical and started to head for the door. Clearly they knew, even while they could not handle this harrowing knowledge. I followed them and persisted. I used my full arsenal of reason, persuasion, bribery, threats and finally, a promise to use my not inconsiderable skill in mesmerism to help them forget once they directed me to the infernal realms of sound and blasphemous delight I sought as only veil of Thorns could deliver.

In a dank alley at the heart of this mouldering and evil city, huddled against the chill of the night under the gibbous moon we struck this final deal. Now, armed with the knowledge of how to enter the presence of the entity know as Veil of Thorns I make my plans to make that final descent. I shall be bound to the end of time, strewn about like gravel, blown like glass. I am to be witness to the first stage of the Manifestation Objective, may it was never loosen its grip on my condemned soul. Heading back home following the conclusion of this infernal bargain I can see recognition in the faces in the street when looks of revulsion contort their habitual blandness, their mask of belonging. The scent of decomposition lingers just beyond my sense of smell. The Veil blinds my eyes – chokes my cries, as evermore I will rage voicelessly at the Birthing Moon. I can't stop laughing at the beauty of drowning, as my consciousness draws in and winds down.

This represents the final chapter and transmission of the Cognitive Dissonance process. I thought I'd share a few bits of what I've been working on lately, between things I'm bound by blood oaths not to talk about, extensive research into rhizomatic consciousness, chaos theory, extreme esoteric number manipulation and viral linguistics. A ton of creative output had been gathering momentum, and dissemination has been an afterthought, though I came to see that aspect becoming part of the creative flow. Further dissection of the sounds. In keeping with the original intent, I'm going to limit the final production notes to a bare outline of the process that got us here and convey gratitude to those of you who followed and added to the conversation.

The first thought I had at the outset was to track a simple album with a classic trio sound. I've done well with that, except for the added melody line at the beginning of the first track. Then a few stray ideas took root and grew into strange mutant entities. Major revamps, rethinks and re-visions, then sounds, images and artifacts suggested ever more forms and eventually, narrative, albeit os the surreal sort. With the album itself I took a very direct and raw approach. I've always preferred the sound of a human being playing instruments and singing to the mad scientists creation that is the protools version of injection molded plastic. (Not to be confused with electronic music.) Vocalists don't usually like to have anyone hear anything but the most spot on, confident performances, but I was going for a feeling and a story, and these are my sketches.

Cognitive Dissonance was a working title that became the final title, for the name fed the blossoming idea that tied the album together. A story that encompassed a vision split in four directions, a juxtaposition and melding together of the points of view of of same world/ two views, two worlds, same character observing and acting in them. The central idea is of a cognitive dissonance between first appearances and a closer look.

I recorded all the music, and then came up with the song titles. I decided the order according to how the titles felt. Then I wrote a short story starting from a cutup of the titles. I expanded that and took the lyrics from that. I think my machines feaked out and became possessed in the process. I had some radio signals coming through the guitar as I laid down the tracks, and I made liberal use of them. While I continued to track the album I released several transmissions. I thought I'd make the various stage escapes into their own entities, as opposed to a few stray mp3's.

Unlike the album itself, I layered, layered the layers and added extra layers to boot. I tried something different in the first, and with the help of the fine folks at librivox.org, I added spoken word from readings of public domain classics. We're hearing mostly Flaubert, Coleridge and Emily Dickinson.

Transmision II I made from the bass tracks from the album. Mostly you're hearing one track of bass with no layers but the real-time FX, though there are a couple points where the cello creeps in. A few inexplicable voices emerged that weren't recorded by me. If it fits as a soundtrack for your daily experience, I want to hear the story. throw these out of my head in quick bouts between working on two movies, my own moving image projects, not included, three comics, (not telling yet), and a sum total of five albums of various styles at diffent points of production.

Along with the sound transmissions, the lyrics were extending into stories. The lyrics to most songs I'd done so far were dreamlike fragments of one continuous tale. I wanted to bring some of the underlying structure into focus. At the same time I listened to others stories. I was especially interested to hear some apocalyptic tales. Ragnarok, Armageddon, the end of one life and the beginning of another. The death of the ego, the body, a belief. The hearing became expression, and the telling of the tale that resulted was an embodiment of experience.

For nearly a decade now, most of the work of front man P. Emerson Williams has been focused inward. Dissemination of his wide, varied output took place through tales whispered in corners remote from. This conversation is part of the creative flow that forms his work.

Williams tackled the latest Veil of Thorns release by sharing the process in a new way. After having tracked the basic instrumental elements of the next Veil Of Thorns album, "Cognitive Dissonance", Veil of Thorns released podcasts created from the sonic raw material of the tracks as they progressed. Through the bands website, blog comments and emails the resulting conversation helped expand the bands vision while focusing the tale being told.

Inspired by scrambled radio signals coming through the guitar as he laid down the tracks, Williams created long form compositions using montage techniques derived from the work of Williams Burroughs and Bryon Gysin. Unlike the album itself, he layered, layered the layers and added extra layers to boot. His machines freaked out and became possessed in the process. Where podcasts are often in a format similar to radio shows, Veil of Thorns ranks among a select group of sound and video artists who are stretching the boundaries of the form into unique works of art.

Every Veil of Thorns song so far contain lyrics in the form of dreamlike fragments making one continuous tale. Cognitive Dissonance brings some of the underlying structure into focus. While they wove their tale they listened to the stories of others. In the spirit of our times they collected many apocalyptic tales. Ragnarok, Armageddon, the end of one life and the beginning of another forms one side of this archetypical narrative. Tales of the death of the ego, of the body, the breaking down of a belief offer a more insightful view.

Coming off collaborations with Industrial cabal subQtaneous and Norwegian post Blackmetal band Manes, Williams took the experience of working with such gifted and unique artists and has re-emerged with a stronger and darker vision. Lyrically encompassing two universes and two realities, this tight and spare album ends up being more expansive an experience than anything Veil of Thorns has released before.

Agape,

-333